Today we’d like to introduce you to Debbie Hull.
Debbie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I learned as much as I could when I was pregnant with my first baby. I read (I had no internet) and took a class and asked questions. I had specific goals for that birth. I wanted an unmedicated birth, though I did not have that phrase to describe my wishes. I felt ready, as ready as one can be for a first baby. But my birth did not go as I planned. As I worked to recover and heal from that experience, I learned that there was an agenda in play other than my own wishes and the well-being of myself and my babies. I learned that there was a better way, a way other than the beaten path, a scenario in which my wishes were respected and my baby and I were valued. I began to learn about woman-centered, physiologic birth. And I was smitten. I hired a midwife. I hired a doula. I learned and grew and planned a better birth for myself and my second baby.
I began to work with a local chapter of an international organization, helping women recover from birth trauma, helping them plan their births, choose care providers and explore birth options in our community. One woman I spent hours with, planning and processing her thoughts and choices. She told me she wanted me to be her doula. I told her she was wrong, that what she really wanted was to use my doula, the most experienced, popular doula in town. She gave my beloved Sally a call, then called me back to say, “No, I want you.” I called Sally to tell her I wasn’t ready! Sally turned on her doula’s voice and assured me, “You are.”
I had attended the births of friends, but this was my first as a doula. I learned several things from that birth. I learned that women are incredible, strong, brave beings when working for their babies. I learned that I could make a difference. I saw that I could be good at this. It was my first step into the space where women become mothers and families are born. The space seemed sacred to me and the invitation to attend others’ sacred space an incredible privilege, both honoring and humbling.
I trained to become a certified childbirth educator, designed and developed my own childbirth class curriculum. My minor was training and development and teaching energizes and fills me. I learned about birth as I attended births and I shared what I learned in classes, preparing others to make informed choices and decisions for themselves and their babies.
That was 20 years, 415 births, and hundreds-of-parents-educated ago. As the years went by, I began to be approached by women interested in pursuing birth work. I mentored, informally, for several years before deciding that I wanted to take a more formal approach to educate the next generation of doulas and childbirth educators. I researched my options, chose CAPPA (Childbirth And Postpartum Professional Association), applied and was accepted to their faculty. It is such a joy to pass on my knowledge and experience to the next generation of birth workers.
Has it been a smooth road?
Birth work, like all other work, has both ups and downs, good days and bad days. I imagine every working mother has experienced the tug of home while working and the tug of work while home with family.
I think it is important that anyone beginning this work understand the cost to our families. Living on-call is hard. When my children were younger, on-call childcare was a real challenge. Managing my life AND the lives of my children while on-call was no picnic for them or me. The uncertainty of our work is stressful for our families, too. When I leave for a birth, I never know how long I’ll be gone. With most other jobs, mothers can tell their children that they’ll be home at the end of the day. My children had to live with the fact that I might be home later on the same day or gone for several days. The vast, vast majority of births require recovery time. All-nighters take a toll on our bodies and we must rest to be prepared for the next birth. The nature of our work will cause us to miss important events, too. Parent-Teacher nights, open houses, dance recitals, birthdays, Christmas and holidays may be interrupted by births. All of that is difficult for us and also for our families.
I would encourage women to have frank discussions with their husbands/partners. Our significant others must understand what we are getting into. I also encourage the women I train to set boundaries for their own well-being and that of their families. I made the decision early on that I would not take call on my children’s birthdays. I made sure that clients knew that if their due time fell near my children’s birthdays, on those days, my backup would take care of them. I protected other important days in the same way: yearly dance recitals, award ceremonies. We must take care of ourselves, and those we love if we wish to continue doing the work.
Backup and connection are also important for this work. Life happens and if you do the work long enough, sooner or later, you’ll be sick or have a family emergency and need backup. Foster connection with other birth workers. Set clear expectations. Agree about payment. Choose your backup carefully and be willing to be backup for others.
The connections you foster will be important for another reason. The work of both childbirth educators and doulas is isolating. The vast (vast, vast) majority of the time we work alone. Especially for doula work, we need someone we trust who we can call at 2 a.m. when a birth has been long and hard. We need a clearer thinking head, one that hasn’t been awake for 32 hours, to call to report on what we have already tried and get input on what to try next. While the work we do is most often happy, there will be times when unexpected events occur and we will need support for those times. Babies are born sick or even die. The VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) our client fought so very hard for ended in another cesarean. As doulas, we have a front row seat for instances of obstetric violence. It takes a toll and we will need support and the ear and heart of someone who truly understands the cost of witnessing these kinds of things.
My last piece of advice to those starting down this path would be to remember to value and invest in themselves. The work we do is a work of heart. We pour into others from our own hearts, mothering women as they become mothers. What we do is valuable: our skills, our knowledge, our experience, our willingness to be present, to step out of our life into the life of another on a moment’s notice, to live on-call, waiting for a baby to be born. It often feels somehow profane to talk about being paid for what we do, but doing births for free, giving away of ourselves and our time, is not sustainable, nor is it fair to ourselves and our families. Be confident of your worth and charge your worth. This is a business, even if it is a business of caring. Most of us come to work, not in a business mindset and, often, lacking business skills. Join groups for business owners, research the offerings of the Small Business Administration, nurture your business skills as you build your business.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Debbie Hull Doula Services and Childbirth Education story. Tell us more about the business.
I do several things, all involved with birth and supporting and educating new families. I am a certified childbirth educator and certified labor doula. I train labor doulas and childbirth educators, their first step to certification. I also regularly guest host a local radio show, Whole Mother (live Sundays, 7:30 – 8 pm, KPFT, 90.1 FM and kpft.org), where we discuss all things birth and parenting.
I developed the interactive, experiential curriculum for my IN Labor/AT Labor Childbirth Class with the goal of preparing parents for their births in hospital, home or birth center. Being IN labor is very different from, and requires different skills than, being AT labor. The classes prepare mothers for what to expect when they are IN labor and dads/partners for what to expect AT labor. I offer both group and private classes, in addition to Parents Again Refresher courses for experienced parents. I have a couple of favorite things about the classes. Women call excited to report that they leave the classes FINALLY talking to their partners about their births! I expected that women would be happy to come to class to talk about their babies and their cervix. I did not anticipate it, but I am proud of the fact that men enjoy the classes! Several local midwives refer exclusively to my classes. I am proud of that, too.
As a labor doula, I provide support to parents as they plan their births and on their birthdays. From the very first contact, I begin helping women clarify their vision for their birth, offering referrals to resources, suggesting supportive care providers, encouraging women to make the very best plans for themselves and their babies. We have frequent contact throughout pregnancy, with the option of phone/email contact or face-to-face meetings. Planning a birth involves decision after decision: choosing a birthplace and care provider, putting together a support team for birth and postpartum, writing a birth plan, setting boundaries with eager, loving family members. I am a resource to my clients for navigating all these decisions, all the way through pregnancy and birth. Labor is always intense, even when it is painless, and both parents need support and encouragement throughout the process. I am there, suggesting positions to help a baby rotate, offering guidance to help partners be involved to their comfort level, freeing dads up to simply be a husband to their wives. Every woman finds her own unique way through labor, so my job is different at every labor as I support the laboring woman and her partner in finding their way through to their baby. Most of the time, being a labor doula is about warm fuzzies: rubbing where it hurts, encouraging, suggesting techniques to help labor progress or encourage baby to turn. And sometimes, being a doula means having the courage to say the hard things. This is a skill I have developed as I matured as a doula. I learned that I am not serving my client if I do not tell her hard truths, even when it is difficult to do so. Sometimes that looks like helping a client clarify her care provider’s restrictions and helping her formulate questions to foster discussion about issues that are important to her. Sometimes it looks like asking my client to stay in a position that makes labor hurt more. It is about having the courage to make a recommendation I know may not please a client, but will definitely serve her as she works toward achieving the goals she set for herself.
CAPPA (Childbirth And Postpartum Professional Association), a certifying body for perinatal professionals, offers the highest quality training and maintains top standards for those to whom they offer certification. I am very proud to be a trainer on their faculty for Labor Doulas and Childbirth Educators. My training is the first step to becoming certified in these professions. Training is 18 fun, intense, jam-packed hours. My labor doula training includes a labor doula kit with the tools I use most often at birth, so students leave labor doula training prepared to walk straight into their first birth. Childbirth Educator training prepares students to develop their own curriculum and includes the opportunity to teach a topic and receive feedback from fellow students. After students finish training, they complete their certification process through CAPPA’s online academy. All of my students are invited to join a private Facebook group where we build a connection and offer support and guidance to one another. I offer several training opportunities each year in the Houston area but am available to travel anywhere to offer training.
Whole Mother radio show has a rich history of offering shows about topics of interest to mothers at all stages of their children’s lives. We have aired interviews with world-class professionals in the birth world: Ina May Gaskin, Barbara Harper, Marsden Wagner, Henci Goer and others. We cover a variety of topics of interest to parents: educational options, circumcision, immunizations, diapering, family outings, birth planning, and, my favorite, birth stories told by real women and real fathers. I am currently hosting a monthly show on addiction and its effects on families. The Addiction Series is dedicated to three young people from our community who lost their lives to addiction and to their mothers. We are very proud to provide this resource to families in our community. All our shows are available on Itunes and at wholemothershow.com.
I am very proud to have been involved in the local birth community for over 20 years. I was at the very first meeting held by BIRTH, Bringing Information and Resources To Houston, and have spoken at every annual BIRTH Fair since. I’ve loved portraying Jillian in each of Houston’s productions of Karen Brody’s play, Birth. In 2019, I attended my 400th birth and I have worked in over 30 local hospitals and most of our community’s birth centers. It is a tremendous matter of pride to me that several midwives in town refer their clients exclusively to me for classes and doula service. I have a great deal of experience with helping clients process trauma from previous births. The more we are able to work toward healing those old hurts, the more smoothly labor is likely to progress. I am always pleased to arrive at a birth and be welcomed warmly by hospital staff who have worked with me before. It is no small thing to have earned the respect of these professionals. I strive to make birth better not only for my current client but also for the next doula who works behind me in a hospital or with a particular care provider and for all women who bring doulas with them to their births.
It would be great to hear about any apps, books, podcasts or other resources that you’ve used and would recommend to others.
I am an avid reader so it feels a bit like picking a favorite child to narrow down a list to only a few books! I love Henci Goer’s books for consumerism on birth. The classic Birth Reborn by Michel Odent was instrumental in my early learning and contains my favorite photo ever of a laboring woman. Lynn Baptisti Richards’ The VBAC Experience: Very Beautiful And Courageous was also an early influence with powerful birth stories told by powerful women. Anything by William and Martha Sears is fabulous and I referred to their work throughout my own parenting adventures! More recently, Brene Brown’s work has had a profound effect on my life, both professionally and personally.
Outside of the birth world, I find my church and, specifically, my small group to be an incredible source of support. I am blessed to have so much interaction, so many connections with the wonderful women who do birth work. Having close friends outside that world helps me maintain balance and connection.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.debbiehulldoula.com
- Email: debbiehull.doula@gmail.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/debbiehulldoula/
Image Credit:
Thank you to my clients, Jenna, Heather, Olga, and Jenny for the use of their photos!
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